"Can Toka come with me?"
Khalon looked surprised by the request. "If it would please you."
"I like talking to him." He also had a feeling Toka knew what it felt like to watch someone he cared about walk off to battle.
Khalon's smile reached his eyes. "Then all the more. Now dress. I would like for you to see me off."
Riley nodded. He quickly got dressed in his princely garb, which was another thing that would take getting used to. It was a lot more leather than he usually--ever--wore. He finished lacing up his boots, then took Khalon's hand. He paused at the door long enough to take a deep steady breath.
"They will love you. Simply be yourself." Khalon kissed his cheek and they left the room.
As they walked hand in hand down the castle corridor, everyone bowed as they walked by. It was the strangest thing. Usually when Riley walked down the street it was like he was invisible. There were times when he'd had so many people bump into him he felt like a bumper car at the fair. Now everyone bowed and addressed him as His Highness. They looked at him like he was some kind of rare and mythical creature.
Outside the front gate, Rayner, Adira, and Ezra waited along with what seemed like everyone on the castle grounds. Khalon's warriors all knelt the moment they saw Riley. With a proud smile, Khalon turned to Riley and pulled him close. He leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"They care greatly for you, as do I." He wrapped an arm around Riley, a wicked smile on his face before he kissed Riley to the sounds of cheers and catcalls. When Riley was all but out of breath, Khalon pulled away. "A little something to keep me in your thoughts until I return."
"Bastard," Riley said through a shaky laugh, the rest of the crowd joining him. He put his hand to Khalon's cheek, telling himself he'd be joining Khalon soon enough. "Be safe."
Khalon turned his face to kiss Riley's palm. "I shall." With a wink he turned and motioned for his warriors to follow. With a wave of his hand, Khalon stepped forward and disappeared, the others swiftly following.
Riley inhaled sharply at the sudden sense of loss. He put his hand to his heart and rubbed at his chest. He didn't like that feeling one bit. Toka stepped up beside him and Riley spoke so only Toka would hear him. "Does it ever stop feeling so horrible?"
Toka shook his head sadly, his eyes on the spot where Rayner had disappeared. "He takes my heart with him every time he goes off to battle, leaving me hollow until his return."
Maybe when Khalon returned, Riley would talk to him about Rayner and Toka. If Khalon was willing to accept being with a human, maybe he wouldn't be so against a Soldati being with a servant.
As Riley stood there, the breeze sweeping through his hair and before him a magical realm he wouldn't have been able to conjure up even in the greatest depths of his imagination, he felt a warm, loving glow spread through him. His arm itched and he looked down at it, smiling when the bands and the patterns of his mark began to move.
"He's thinking of you," Toka said with a warm smile.
Riley's heart swelled and he hoped Khalon could feel Riley thinking about him as well. He turned to face his people, all of whom had waited centuries for his arrival. Riley had no intention of letting them or Khalon down. There was so much to do and get used to. There was his warrior training, his tiger training, and a coronation to prepare for, not to mention finding a way to tell his mom about his new boyfriend/mate without the whole moving to another realm to live as a tiger shifter prince part. That should prove interesting.
His life as barista Riley Murrough might be over, but his life as Prince of the Soldati was just beginning. With a confident stride and a wide smile, Riley headed toward the castle's main doors and the beginning of his new life. It looked like he had finally found his calling. Who knew it would be as a warrior prince? For the first time in his life, he felt like he belonged. This was who he was meant to be, and he was going to rock it.